I Can't Help This
by ChibiPastaTalia
Summary: Teen!Arthur and Alfred Are always picked on at their school for being gay. But, when a gang takes it too far, Arthur is put into hospital with serious life-threatening injuries, leaving Alfred alone, he gets the chance to become an LGBT spokesperson around the world...which means leaving Arthur alone. UsUk Rate T for adult situations and language. In honour of Human rights month
1. You Over Did It

_A/N: so this is kinda the draft/fandom version of my English lit assessment. It's supposed to be about journeys, but seeing as there is a lot of stuff about gays and lesbians in the media at the moment, and because I'm Bisexual myself, I decided to make this a "Journey" About "Discovering yourself" And the struggles that some people, only a minority, have to go through on a daily routine because of something they can't control or help. I was truly disgusted at one point in the research I did for this, when I found some of the words used against gays. This is dedicated to all of you that are bullied because of your sexuality. No matter Verbal, Physical or virally, you are all human, therefore, you are all equal._

His body looked so frail on that hospital bed. Wired up to god knows how many machines, chemicals being pumped into his body just to keep his organs from functioning. He's here because of those stupid idiots at school. Those retards. Fuckers. Homophobes. All he did was be himself and protect me.

Three days ago, it was all okay. Me and Arthur walked to school, just like any other day. Arthur was a British exchange student; his parents decided to move here after he visited for the first time, and we've been together ever since. By the way, I forgot to mention. Arthur and I are dating. We're gay. But I don't like labels. I prefer…_In love_

I felt his hand bump against mine, and encased it in the warmth of it, heating up his skin immediately. The winter was especially harsh this year, and Arthur wasn't used to these temperatures. Our breath fogged up, joining in a misty ball of warmth before floating up to the atmosphere, where some other human beings would breathe the exact same particles in again someday. The road to school was unusually quiet for a snow day. All of the students were probably already at school, getting their faces pelted with snow and letting their noses go all red. Personally, I don't like the snow, but Arthur did, so we occasionally had snowball fights in my yard. He never seemed to cease smiling these days. Even when someone threw a remark at us, he'd just wash it off; walk away, unlike me. I'm like a sponge. I soak in these remarks and keep them, before letting them out in one large waterfall of emotion, before starting over again.

But turning into the school gates, My face was greeted with a fistful of the frozen water.

"Hah! Faggots!" The water dripped down the back of my neck, inducing the shiver of hatred for these…these bullies. Scowling, I hid my face in my scarf and pretended not to care. Who needs them anyway? At least I'm happy how I am, Just Arthur and I. I walked away from them, their stares of hatred boring through my back and burning a hole in my heart. My heart that was warm enough to warm the whole of America one day.

Form room is never any better. I still get taunts from the same people. My teacher pretends to not notice, but I know she sees them. Who can miss someone shouting "Gay!" across the classroom when a name is said in the register? I felt the hand squeeze me, and all of my anger disappeared deep inside of me, ready to be released at a later date.

And the shit just kept rolling on. The names. The stares. The shoves whilst I stood at my locker.

"_Hey, __**Fag**__!"_

"_Haha! __**Knob Jockey**__!"_

"_How's your diet,__**vagitarian**__?!"_

"_Fucking __**Pillow biter**__!"_

"_How's the __**Dyke**__ today?"_

Trust me. I've heard every fucking insult. Just ask me. Have a go. It won't hurt me. That's what everyone thinks. Just because I've had that word used to describe me before, doesn't mean that it wont add to the hatred I have for the minority of the citizens that inhabit this foul planet that think it is okay to shout offensive words at someone because of something so simple. Because of something I can't control. Because I fell in love with someone the same gender as me. I didn't **choose** to be like this. It wasn't a case of me waking up one morning and deciding that I liked guys. Because life isn't fair.

**It's never fair.**

As I was leaving the school grounds at the end of school, I saw them. The bullies. They were stood at the gates, waiting for us. We always left a couple minutes later so we didn't run into this group of boys. But leaving late also meant having no-one around to see anything. I tenderly nudged my boyfriend's arm and he nodded tenderly, indicating that he had seen the group. About five boys stood at the green, snow covered gates with menacing looks on their faces as they shot glares of disgust and hatred, like Medusa's eyes, which, along with the snow, chilled me to the bone. Swallowing nervously, I hid behind my scarf before putting on a brave face and walking up to the gate, a mere meter away from the spot that they stood at, like a pack of wolves, waiting to pounce. Carrying on walking, I could hear their heavy footsteps close behind us, and began to quicken the pace.

"If we can make it one block, ill get us the bus" I whispered slowly into Arthur's ear, feeling his golden hair shift against my ear, showing me that he agreed to them plan. Unfortunately, the boys didn't.

"Talking about us?" Pretending not to hear him, we carried on walking.

"I SAID 'Talking about us', fags?" A heavy hand landed on our shoulders and ripped us apart, pinning me up against a wall and shoving Arthur to the ground, eyes shut and fists clenched. I felt my heart rip apart slightly as he made that face. The face like the devil himself was stood there. My mouth glued itself shut due to the lack of saliva, and my attempt to swallow was flawed because of the dryness.

"Mmmn? Got cum stuck in your throat?" He snickered before turning towards me and shoving his forearm up to my throat, choking me as I backed up against the brick wall behind me. "You probably have as well!" I felt the pressure applied to my throat increase, pushing the tears to the rims of my eyes.

"Guys, look! The faggot's gonna cry!" Sadistically, the boy began to laugh, punching and kneeing me in the stomach again and again until I felt like my insides were about to regurgitate my lunch. Saliva dripped from my lip; the only thing I could concentrate on was the pain. And for a split second there, I forgot about Arthur.

"You get off Alfred!" The smaller boy stood up, yelling and pointing at the boys before running and tackling the one holding me down. He dodged out of the way, and Arthur landed square onto my chest, arms linking with mine. Our breathing synchronised, and for a moment there, everything was peaceful.

"Aww! Faggot love! I bet there gonna fuck after this!"

And that's when I snapped.

It was a blur after that. I can remember everything being a blur, like being stuck in a tornado with no escape. I remember the sickening crunch that my fist made as it came into contact with someone's jaw. The scream as my foot found one of their soft and vulnerable stomachs. And then, being held down by two of them. I couldn't move at all. My arms were bound by enemy flesh and bones, sniggering like hyenas into my ears. The boy who had me up against the wall was stood opposite me. Grinning. With a metal pipe in his hand. I saw his hands raise above his head, before coming down again as fast as lightning, hitting skull bone with a sickening clunk. And then the realisation. The realisation that it wasn't me that was hit. It was Arthur.

"Fuck! You seriously overdid it this time!"

"Hey! It was all of us! Lets go before he calls the cops or dies or something"

Footsteps running away from me echoed into my eardrums as I knelt beside Arthur's body. Arthur's cold, shivering, lifeless body.


	2. A Turn Of Luck

The beeps of the life support machine echoed through my head. It was all that I had heard for the best part of three days, including when I fell asleep. It bore into my brain, interrupting my never-ending nightmare of that last encounter, like a tape stuck on repeat. I shook my head, bringing it back to reality and grasped Arthurs hand over the blood pressure clip. Stone cold, just like last time I checked. Rubbing my face, I sighed and blinked back the tears, my glasses falling off in the process. Again, I sighed. Every little thing seemed like a big problem at the moment. My hands fumbled around on the hospital bed before picking them up again, cleaning the lenses with my bare hands. As my vision came back into view, I noticed a brown haired man stood in the corner.

"Is this Arthur Kirkland's room? Are you a friend of his?" I continued to stare at him for a split second before burying my face into the white sheets.

"if the rumours are true, I know why he's here. Some form of bullying?" He smiled slightly, walking over and putting a comforting hand on my back. Flinching slightly at the touch, I bought my gaze to his and nodded. 'Some form of bullying'. I knew that he knew exactly what case this was.

"Who are you?" My lips moved on their own accord. I think that maybe Arthur wanted to know who he was. Even in his state, he could be able to hear me. The other man smiled in a friendly way, rubbing his chin and leaning back in the chair he had pulled up.

"Im Anton. A spokesperson for the company that I work for. A company I think you'll be _very_ interested in." my stare continued and his body shifted slightly, reaching for the business card in his left hand pocket and handing it to me.

"Take a look." He smiled and I looked down, reading out what I saw in the big heading.

"We're The Same…?" I met his eyes again and he smiled even wider, but in a comforting way.

"My company is an LGBT rights company. We deal with cases of bullying and homophobia in the LGBT community and travel all around the world to give speeches to people both young and old about the rights that people, like you, deserve. Want. Need. We heard about your bullying case and knew exactly what we were dealing with, as I've heard this before not too long ago. Luckily, we found you… And the boys that did this" He motioned towards the boy in the bed, adjusting my gaze. "I think you'll be happy to know that they got the punishment they deserve. As for you…" he bit his lip ever so slightly. Not much, but enough for me to notice that he was worries for Arthur's wellbeing. Therefore, enough for me to trust him.

Anton was still at the bedside two hours later. We had been talking the whole time, apart from a ten minute space where he disappeared downstairs to buy me a cookie. But in the end, we came to an agreement. Next Friday, I was flying off to new York to give a speech at a press conference on LGBT rights, and the main focus was teens. And teenage tolerance. Perfect for my situation. My preparation began immediately, writing intensely, using my time off school to my advantage to find the perfect words to tide the public over to me. To Anton. To Arthur. To **us**.

A week later, on Friday, I was stood at the doorway of the local airport. Anton insisted that he'd come with me and be my responsible adult, even though I'm 16. The three hour wait after we got through customs zoomed past, and I fell asleep as soon as the safety talk was over, knowing that I was in safe hands.

When the flight landed, I was surprised to see a lot of butch body guards escort me and Anton to a black limo, which ended up stopping at a 5 star hotel.

"Are you sure we were supposed to get this ride?"

Anton's chuckle filled my ears as he nodded and lead me upstairs the room I was staying in for tonight. It was late, so we caught a quick bite to eat before passing out on the king sized beds. It would be a _**very**_ busy day on Saturday. And very was most probably an understatement…


End file.
